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Thursday, August 15, 2013

Can you believe it's almost the weekend?? I'm so excited, even though this week hasn't been particularly tough for me... haha. But my brother is coming into town tonight, so it'll be really great to see him!

I have some more nail art to show you today. Is anyone surprised that I went with polka dots? No? Didn't think so. I just love polka dots way too much. They look really fun and they're so easy and quick to do. So no complaints there. =)

Cobalt and pink is one of my favorite color combinations, so of course I had to try it out. I started with three coats of Essie Butler Please, a vibrant cobalt blue. The formula is fine and not nearly as bad in my opinion as I've read on other blogs... it's pretty streaky and thin on the first coat, but once I applied the second coat it looked great. I added the third coat just to brighten it up a bit, although it wasn't really necessary. I really really love Butler Please and almost didn't want to put anything on top of it because I love it so much. But I had polka dots in mind, so I had to do them. Apparently Butler Please is a dupe of Nails Inc. Baker St, and apparently the formula on that is much better. Oh well.

Next I used my dotting tools to create a gradient of polka dots from large to small going down my nail. The two pink polishes I used are Lime Crime Parfait Day (bright pastel pink) and China Glaze Pink Voltage (only my favorite neon pink EVER). Then I topped it all off with top coat to smooth it out, and there you go! I like how bright this manicure is. I could have been more careful with the placement of my dots to make the gradient more obvious, but I don't care too much. I'm happy with it. =)

Sun.

Sun.

Shade.

That's it for today! I hope that you all have a great Thursday! Thanks for stopping by =)

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Happy Tuesday! Today I have some fun nail art to show you that I'm really stoked about! I've always loved tribal print and Aztec designs, but they seem really detailed and intricate. However, I finally took the plunge and tried a crack at it, and I'm in love with the result. I don't want to take the polish off even though it's chipping! Gah!!

For this look, I started with a base of two coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls so that the polishes I used would be more vibrant on top of it. Then I free-handed color-blocks of Essie Bottle Service (neon pink/fuscia), Essie Play Date (purple), and Zoya Arizona (orange). I absolutely love these three colors together, and can't wait to play around with them in future manis!

Next I used OPI Black Onyx and a striping brush to paint lines in between all of the colors. I used a smaller brush to paint the black designs. I really loved creating this look because I didn't have to be too precise at all, and could draw whatever patterns my heart desired. Overall, I'm so happy with how this came out. My nails are so bright, I can't stop looking at them! I definitely feel like it's summer on my nails... haha!

I added top coat and voila. Here's the final result (picture quality didn't turn out too well this time around... oh well):

I love pushing myself to try new things that I've never tried before, and this look is no exception. I can't wait to do some more nail art like this with different shades and patterns!

As always, thank you so much for stopping by =D I hope you have an awesome day!

Monday, August 12, 2013

I hope you had a good weekend! Mine was great - I got to catch up with some friends and went on an awesome night hike. The weather was also beautiful as always. And last but not least, Breaking Bad started again last night and I can't wait to watch the recording. Yee!

A couple weeks ago, I was contacted by OMG Nail Strips asking if I'd be interested in trying out their new nail strips. Of course I was interested! Looking at their site, there were so many cute designs, and I finally decided on the blue leopard strips.I have never tried nail strips before. I've actually never put anything on my nails before besides plain ol' polish, so I was excited and curious to try something new. As soon as I received the strips in the mail, I had to try them out right away. And I was pretty pleased with the results!Each set of strips contains 14 nails strips, 7 different sizes for each hand. It was easy figuring out which size would be best for each nail. It just so happened that the ones I used fit all of my nails perfectly! Here's what the set looks like for one hand (sorry the color is a bit wonky):

The strips are really pliable, so they were super easy to put on the nail. I placed the strip at the base of the nail and pulled it toward the tip. Then I cut the excess strip off using scissors, and filed downward at the tip of the nail to get a nice clean finish.

Since these are so flexible, if you mess up or don't center it right, you can easily take it off and reposition it without any damage to the strip. I had to do that with a couple of nails, and it wasn't a problem at all! It only took me about 15 minutes to put these on.Here's the final result. I love the color of the bright blue background, and I like how it's a marble-y textured background, not just a solid color. And of course, can't go wrong with leopard print. These are adorable! I got a lot of compliments while I wore them.

My only problem with these was the wear time. After only one day, I had some tip wear on most of my nails. However, after reading other reviews, this seems like a problem that only I had. Maybe I filed a little too much off the tips, or didn't let the tips seal quite enough to my nails before moving on to other activities. Besides the tip wear, I really love these! The design is way too cute and I like that the strips fit so nicely to the nail that they don't look like strips at all. They look like something I could have painted on myself, which I actually like. For my first experience with nail strips, I'm very impressed! Who knew they would be so easy. But when it comes down to it, polishing is still much more fun haha.You can check out OMG Nail Strips online here. There are many cute designs to choose from, and they're really affordable at $6.89 each with free shipping!So what do you guys think of these? Have you tried nail strips before?I hope you all have an amazing day! Thanks for stopping by =)

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Happy Saturday! I hope everyone gets the chance to relax and have some fun! Sorry this post is over a week later than I anticipated! I went to Mammoth last weekend for a beer and blues festival (so much fun!!), then I started school again on Monday. So needless to say I've been pretty busy, and I haven't had much time to dedicate to my poor nails. But I'll make it up to them. And I'll make it up to you guys by posting more regularly!

Today I'd like to show you the last Cirque polish that I bought when I was in New York. This baby is called Tibetan Nights, and it's just gorgeous! The base is a deep, saturated blue jelly with tiny silver hex glitters and silver bar glitter. I love how the glitters appear as a mesmerizing iridescent light blue when covered by the blue jelly base. This polish just has such depth to it, I love the effect of the jelly with the glitter. I also love how saturated and bright the blue is, even though it's a darker blue. Definitely won't be mistaken for black in any light!

The base is a little bit sheer, but that's okay! It was so easy to work with, especially considering there's glitter in this polish. I used 3 easy coats. This ended up drying a bit dull, so I added a coat of top coat to make it glossy. Enjoy =)

What do you guys think of Tibetan Nights? I think it's absolutely stunning, and perfect for any time of year. I'm so happy with the Cirque polishes I picked up. Definitely a great brand.

I hope that you all have an amazing weekend! Thanks for stopping by =)

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Happy Thursday! This week is just flying by, which is sad because I start school again on Monday. I'm definitely not ready for it... I just want to keep having fun every single day all day long. At least I have one more trip planned before the madness starts back up again. I'm going to Mammoth today for the whole weekend for a blues and beer festival. I'm so excited! I've heard Mammoth is beautiful in the summer. I'll be sure to take some pictures and post them when I'm back!

Anyways, I'm on such a roll with these posts this week, and it feels oh-so-good! I'm really happy I've gotten back to blogging regularly. Today I want to show you another Cirque polish that I got during my trip to New York. Today's polish is called Electric Circus, and I'm in love!

Electric Circus is a mix of pink, blue, and chartreuse (midway between green and yellow) nearly-neon glitters of various shapes and sizes. To my eye, most of the glitters are circular, while others are hexes and shards. Overall the glitter is on the smaller side, which is unique amongst the glitters in my stash. Also, one thing that surprised me and that I love about Electric Circus is that it dries to a satin, almost matte finish! Awesome!

For the look in the photos below, I started with two coats of China Glaze Mimosa's Before Mani's, a bright coral-peach shimmer. Then I layered two thin coats of Electric Circus on top. I could have just used one thicker coat to achieve the same effect. I absolutely love these two polishes paired together!

So what do you guys think of Electric Circus? I have one more Cirque polish to show you tomorrow. Of course, it's another beauty. I expect nothing less from Cirque at this point.Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have an awesome day =)